SIDE: Iska Kingdom - In the office of the Royal Palace (*before Iscar, but I will continue with Iska now)
I heaved a sigh of relief at the report that the successful elimination of the dungeon that had appeared in the breadbasket region of the Gard Beastkin Nation, the nation adjacent to us in the north.
Had it not been resolved properly, there was the danger of monsters overflowing from the dungeon laying waste to their breadbasket region and causing famine in the whole Beastkin Nation.
There was the possibility of strife occurring due to the famine, so I was advancing the preparation to sell them the grains stored for the army but I’m glad that my arrangements aren’t needed anymore.
"Nevertheless, it was an A-rank dungeon with 30 floors, huh? They wrapped the dungeon situation quite quickly."
It was around 8 years ago that the A-rank adventurer party, Dawn of the Sword, had reached the 30th floor of the dungeon in the dungeon city of the Iska Kingdom.
They had found the dungeon core there but considering the economy that had been built around the dungeon, they left the dungeon core alone.
The time they had spent clearing that dungeon was more than ten years.
The adventurers who have achieved a similar feat but in a mere span of a few weeks explained just how excellent they must have been.
I continued with the rest of the report leisurely while thinking about them and suddenly realized something in the name of the adventurers who cleared dungeons in the beastkin nation.
"Good, goodness...... Never expected them to fly so far."
The B-rank adventurer and magician Chise. The same B-rank adventurer as her, Teto.
They had delivered the corpse of Elise, who was attacked by the devil-worshipping evil cult, to the neighbouring town and had protected her daughter Seleneril.
The feudal lord of that town, realising the gravity of the matter, had immediately dispatched his soldiers to protect Seleneril but the Evil Cult was one step ahead of them and had attacked them in the town. However, they managed to escape together with Seleneril safely.
"Finally, I have finally found your tail......"
The tail that I had been searching for throughout the kingdom for years was finally before my eyes.
I continued to read the material and it was recorded that the adventurer Chise had brought her daughter Selene alongside her.
In the information about her, she was apparently revered as the little saint for her conspicuous effort of healing the wounded that had come out from the dungeon exploration.
Selene's traits and features that were mentioned were the mirror image of Seleneril and even her proficiency in healing magic was related to her mother, Saint Elise.
"Immediately dispatch people to the town Yir of the beastkin nation and investigate the adventurer Chise and the little saint Selene. If it is proven that she's my daughter, Seleneril, immediately devote yourself to her protection!"
I have finally found my daughter I thought I had lost forever.
I have already thoroughly purged the Evil Cult that was a nuisance for my daughter.
No matter what, I will absolutely take my daughter back this time.
SIDE: Witch
The dungeon trip was over and we reported the matter to the frontier town guild, our base.
Afterwards, we returned to our home in the «Empty Wilderness» and spent my days lazily with Teto and Selene.
We had been out for around two weeks but the fields in the wilderness were as glorious as ever as I had several magic tools with garden maintenance functions installed.
However, there was also the downside that the vegetables that had become ripe to pick up became a bit too big in these two weeks of unattended care and they fell onto the ground and began to rot. Since they couldn't be used, they were disposed of as kitchen waste and were equally spread out and buried in the vast land.
Hop and hop and buried them in the plentiful land......
Afterwards, I once again began with the management of the «Empty Wilderness» after a leisure break of around one week.
So, when our vacation ended, I went to the guild for the delivery of potions and medicinal grass but there apparently wasn't any news about the decision for the dungeon core from the royal family of the beastkin nation side so we spent our time as usual.
After an outing with the three of us in town and returning back to our home一一
"Okaa-san, Teto onee-chan. These are for you!"
"What might this be, Selene?"
"These are presents for you with the money I earned!"
After saying that, Selene passed us the muffler she had presumably bought from the general store.
"It's going to be winter soon! And they are a match!"
"So nice of you. I will cherish them dearly, Selene."
The dear gift from my angelic daughter, I must put preservation magic on it and enchant it with all sorts of grand magic else I wouldn't be able to control myself if I lose it!
Our tenth winter came to pass in all these events and we, as always, holed ourselves up in the wilderness for the season.
The winter passed as we spent our time doing various activities. Then spring came and we began our usual schedule to visit the town.
"I'm off to meet Carl-chan and the others!"
"Be careful on the way~"
Selene apparently decided to shelve the guild trainee work for later to meet with her friends from the nursing home.
The familiar receptionist was there when we arrived at the guild and spoke to us.
"A messenger came from the royal family side before the winter regarding the talks about the dungeon core......"
"So they have finally decided, let me hear what they have to say."
Teto and I were led to the reception room where the beastkin were sitting and waiting.
"I'm envoy Rollwalker, an official dispatched to oversee the matter of the dungeon core and the person here is third Prince一一"
"The name's Gyunton, asked by His Majesty to personally watch over the dealings this time."
The ones waiting for us were the young man who goes by the name Rollwalker, a rabbit beastkin and Gyunton, a person with cat-like fur一... I mean Tigerkin.
Rollwalker boasts delicate features and was wearing a monocle while Gyunton, on the other hand, was a stark contrast to him with a battle-hardened body that was about twice the size of Rollwalker.
"I'm Chise, and this is my party member Teto. We’re both B-rank adventurers. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meetcha-nanodesu!"
Beastkin Prince's face twitched at Teto's tone but he opted not to point it out and sat down on the sofa.
"I would first like to express my gratitude for your hard work of clearing and eliminating the dungeon that had suddenly appeared."
Prince Gyunton expressed his gratitude and then left the rest to Rollwalker to handle.
"To start on the topic of dungeon core, there are a few things I would like to confirm with dungeon explorer Chise-sama regarding the contract you seek from us."
"What is it?"
"The «Empty Wilderness» has long been recognised as a land isolated by the Goddess by erecting a giant barrier, barring everyone from entry. Why are you wishing for such a place you can't enter?"
I, who can move in and out of the «Empty Wilderness», was seeking the contract so that I could be the owner of that land in their documents too but there wasn't any explicit need to mention it.
I decided to muddle my words with a valid reason.
"I have a great interest in the barrier erected by the goddess as a magician and I want to research it. This contract is needed so that I can carefully examine the outside boundary without getting into any hassle."
"That seems reasonable. However, it's a bit hard to agree on all the land as you have requested in the contract. There are also borders from other countries sticking to it. Henceforth, the only land we can offer is the «Empty Wilderness» region facing our beastkin nation. In addition, if you can develop the outer region by yourself, we can also recognise that land as yours."
"The land can be recognised as mine if I can develop that region”, means I wouldn't have to pay any tax for that.
I see, it's indeed difficult considering the equilibrium with other countries.
But if I could tie a contract with one of the four countries bordering «Empty Wilderness», I believe it should be possible to tie the same contract with the other three countries too and ultimately become the owner of the whole region in their documents too.
"Very well, let's form a magical contract, including the aforementioned points."
After saying that, he prepared the magic contract acknowledging my, adventurer Chise’s, ownership over the region of the «Empty Wilderness» facing the beastkin nation.
"There are three copies of it, one for the royal family, second for Chise-sama and third for the adventure guild to safeguard it."
It seems Gyunton has the authority to sign it on the behalf of the King as his representative.
I rechecked the document just in case to look for any minor loopholes.
"I have confirmed. Let's sign 一一「Hold on」."
Gyunton, who was watching over the proceeding until now with a stern expression, raised his voice to pause the procedure.
"I still have some doubts. Why are you lying that you're going to research the region from our nation's side?"
"A lie, you say?"
"The ears and nose of us, the royal family, are quite sensitive, you see. With experience, we can tell if the person before us is lying or not from the smell of their sweat and the sound of their heartbeat."
He said, staring straight at me. You really can't underestimate the other world.
I was impressed that there are people who possess such remarkable traits.
But一一
"So you're sniffing the smell of a woman's sweat huh...... That's anything but a pleasant revelation."
"I, for one, am not going around sniffing for a person's body odour out of my preference either. Also, don't try to change the topic so blatantly."
Tsk, I guess I can't fool him.
"Then I would like to keep my silence over my true motive."
"So that's how you're going to play, huh? Then my other doubt, why is there no reward for your comrade when you're in a party? As far as I can tell, it's basically revolving around Chise-dono."
So he found it odd why Teto's name wasn't in the contract when we had cleared the dungeon together but she wasn't mentioned anywhere when we discussed the dealing of the dungeon core.
The one to reply to this was Teto herself.
"I had a promise with Majou-sama, that the next dungeon core would belong to her......"
"Interesting, by next, so you mean you also got your hands on another dungeon core in the past"
Teto subconsciously made a verbal slip, but such matters hardly had any significance.
"We had gotten a dungeon core of a small-scale dungeon which only had 5 floors ten years ago. Though we don't have it anymore."
"I see, what a pity......"
Expressing his disappointment, Prince pulled a thoughtful expression.
He decided to back down after judging what we said was true from our remarks and smelling the odour.
He seemed to be pondering once again if he should tie this incomprehensible contract and secure the dungeon core or not.
Just as Prince was in the middle of his contemplation, the accessory I was carrying made a shrill sound suddenly.
It was similar to a buzzer alarm that children have.
"W, What's with this suddenly!?"
"I apologise. It seems my daughter seemed to be caught up in trouble. I am going out for a while, please excuse me."
Hurling my words, I opened the window door, put my feet on the ledge and flew to the sky.
"Majou-sama, Teto's also coming with you!"
Teto, too, jumped out of the window, landed on the ground and followed after me.
"What in the world has gotten into them so suddenly......"
I heard the Prince of beastkin nation muttering so in the process.
